Sat 8/2 Lake Report

I decided to hit Pine Lake on Saturday after my fruitless attempt to find access to the north end of Lk Sammamish.  A few people have repeatedly told me that it holds decent bass so I thought I would give it another try.  I gave up on it last year after getting skunked on more than few outings.
I launched around 3:30 and worked on making one gradual sweep of the lake's perimeter.  The water was surprisingly clear for this time of year which afforded a great view of the bottom structure and fauna; in the shallows you could see hundreds of bass fry swimming about and some larger species would pass by from time to time in the 10-15' range (max vis.)  Over the course of the afternoon into the early evening I had some powerful strikes and a few others that through to hook before landing them.  Definitely time to change out my hooks... Around 8:30 I had decided to call it an evening and began my paddle back to the shore when I noticed a beautiful dropoff on my sonar from 10' to 22' that should hold bass.  I positioned myself on the deep end and began slowly twitching my bait letting it bounce down the incline towards the bottom.  About half-way back to the yak, fish on!  It wasn't much, but a 10" smallie was at least something after the long day.  I decided to give the spot a few more casts before heading in again when I get the telltale tug... like a freight train this guy took off stripping line off as I tightened the drag.  I had no idea how flexible an Ugly Stick was until the moment when the rod tip smacked my knuckles repeatly on one of his runs under the yak.  After what seemed like an epic battle I managed to land my personal best Bass:  22", 6#, SMB.  This guy had a whole lot of fight in him!  Sorry my pictures aren't very good, but its the best I could do with my cameraphone since I was alone.  The foggy one is when the phone got bass juice on it.  After snapping a few pics and measuring/weighing it I tossed him back to be caught another day.  The whole experience of bringing in a decent sized fish on a yak was infinitely more satisfying than had I been in a boat.  Whooohooo!

Wow, that's a beast and the largest kayak caught smallie I've ever heard of.

Brian

Holly Crap Batman!  That's a monster!

Great Job!!!

Thanks for the fishporn.

Thanks...  I kept preparing myself for the "bluegill phenomenon" where the fight makes you believe you handling a much larger fish than you actually have; a more than pleasant surprise in this case.  If only I had video of the fight- Shakespeare (Ugly Stick) would have loved seeing their rod do the unthinkable repeatedly.  After this experience I think I'll be sticking with those rods.

Awesome fish! The Washington state record is 8lbs 12ounces. Your Smallmouth could break the record someday, it was nice of you to release it!

A guy in Eastern Wa just caught one that was 4oz off from the Wa state record and he kept him. Not sure how I feel about it, but it is his prerogative not mine.

I guess you could call me a level 3 piscitarian predator.   I only keep 'em when I'm camping for the most part.  That is more than likely going to change once I hit the salt though... 

   That would have been a 198 point AOTY fish!!!

-Allen

Thanks...  I kept preparing myself for the "bluegill phenomenon" where the fight makes you believe you handling a much larger fish than you actually have; a more than pleasant surprise in this case.  If only I had video of the fight- Shakespeare (Ugly Stick) would have loved seeing their rod do the unthinkable repeatedly.  After this experience I think I'll be sticking with those rods.

Great Smallie! dang that's a monster fishie. Lot's of porn on the board today! two out of three of my Yak rods are Ugly Sticks, they are nice . Just love the feel of 'em.